Marginal Christianity

For those with ears to hear! Saul (aka Paul) was a culture warrior before he met the risen Christ on the Damacus Rd. He believed it his religious duty to persecute those Jews who were doing it wrong (those pesky Jews who believed in Jesus). Michael Gorman tells us how and how the Christian Paul was transformed. “He was most likely attempting to secure his justification before God through imitating, at least to some degree, the violent priestly hero Phinehas, who purified Israel and stayed God’s wrath by killing an Israelite and his Midianite consort (Num. 25: 6-13). According to Psalm 106:31 (LXX 105:31), Phinehas was justified by his violent zeal: his act was “reckoned to him as righteousness” (elogisthē autō eis dikaiosynēn); the Greek phrase is exactly the same as the parallel text in Genesis 15:6 and in Romans 4:3, 5, 9, 22-24. When Paul was justified, reconciled to God, his oppressive, violent public behavior changed dramatically, and so did his spirituality, his relatio...

By Adam Ericksen [2] 9-26-2017 Do you remember two weeks ago when Donald Trump surprised everyone by working with Democrats [4] to come to a consensus on the DREAM Act? Many thought the president was finally pivoting. He was turning a new leaf by attempting to unify the country. His base wasn’t happy [5], but many of us were hopeful that the leader of the U.S. might be moving in a new direction. But then Friday happened. Trump decided to pick a fight with the NFL. He said in a speech [6] in Alabama: Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, “Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He’s fired!” You know, some owner is going to do that. He’s going to say, “That guy disrespects our flag; he’s fired.” And that owner . . . they’ll be the most popular person in this country. Some commentators said that Trump makes these claims to start a culture war that distract us from legislative issues that tru...

By Trevin Wax on Jul 04, 2016 07:10 pm We’re in the midst of a seismic shift in terms of culture and worldview right now in the United States of America, and orthodox Christians who seek to order their lives according to Scripture will likely lose access to institutions of mainstream influence. Such is already the case in most secular universities and in the mainstream media. More marginalization is sure to follow. But here’s a question we should raise: is life at the margins as bad as we think? Is the Common Culture As Important These Days? Read more at https://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/trevinwax/2016/07/05/christians-who-feel-marginalized-should-go-local/?utm_source=TGC+List&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=e3e8c3ba2f-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_term=0_621531349f-e3e8c3ba2f-118240921

           Carl Trueman and Rod Dreher “both believe that the culture war is over and that ‘our side’ has lost. We both believe that it is pointless simply to shout Bible verses louder, or to base arguments on the private religious convictions of the Founding Fathers, or to huff and puff that we must be taken seriously because Christianity was important way back when. And we both believe that the language of exile is appropriate for the imminent condition of Christians in the USA. ( https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2016/06/eating-locusts-will-be-benedict-optional )           Whoa! What’s going on here? Culture warriors waving the white flag? Admitting defeat? Astonishing! Unbelievable! Now we’re getting somewhere! Finally! This is a benchmark moment in the history of the church in this country. Another irrevocable step in the demise of Christendom. You know, Chris...

The Next Culture War The Next Culture War JUNE 30, 2015 David Brooks Christianity is in decline in the United States. The share of Americans who describe themselves as Christians and attend church is dropping. Evangelical voters make up a smaller share of the electorate. Members of the millennial generation are detaching themselves from religious institutions in droves. Christianity’s gravest setbacks are in the realm of values. American culture is shifting away from orthodox Christian positions on homosexuality, premarital sex, contraception, out-of-wedlock childbearing, divorce and a range of other social issues. More and more Christians feel estranged from mainstream culture. They fear they will soon be treated as social pariahs, the moral equivalent of segregationists because of their adherence to scriptural teaching on gay marriage. They fear their colleges will be decertified, their religious institutions will lose their tax-exempt status, thei...